2010-07-08

New Super Battery Created Under Super-High Pressures



Super-High Pressures Used to Create Super Battery: 'Most Condensed Form of Energy Storage Outside of Nuclear Energy'

Using super-high pressures similar to those found deep in the Earth or on a giant planet, Washington State University researchers have created a compact, never-before-seen material capable of storing vast amounts of energy.


Washington State University chemist Choong-Shik Yoo, seen here with students, has used super-high pressures to create a compact, never-before-seen material capable of storing vast amounts of energy. (Credit: Washington State University)



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WSU Researchers Use Super-high Pressures to Create Super Battery

 "If you think about it, it is the most condensed form of energy storage outside of nuclear energy," says Choong-Shik Yoo, a WSU chemistry professor and lead author of results published in the journal Nature Chemistry.

The research is basic science, but Yoo says it shows it is possible to store mechanical energy into the chemical energy of a material with such strong chemical bonds. Possible future applications include creating a new class of energetic materials or fuels, an energy storage device,  super-oxidizing materials for destroying chemical and biological agents, and high-temperature superconductors.

The researchers created the material on the Pullman campus in a diamond anvil cell, a small, two-inch by three-inch-diameter device capable of producing extremely high pressures in a small space. The cell contained xenon difluoride (XeF2), a white crystal used to etch silicon conductors, squeezed between two small diamond anvils.



Nature Chemistry | Article

Two- and three-dimensional extended solids and metallization of compressed XeF2

Minseob Kim, Mathew Debessai & Choong-Shik Yoo

The application of pressure, internal or external, transforms molecular solids into extended solids with more itinerant electrons to soften repulsive interatomic interactions in a tight space.  [...] Here, we present new discoveries of novel two- and three-dimensional extended non-molecular phases of solid XeF2 and their metallization. At ∼50 GPa, the transparent linear insulating XeF2 transforms into a reddish two-dimensional graphite-like hexagonal layered structure of semiconducting XeF4. Above 70 GPa, it further transforms into a black three-dimensional fluorite-like structure of the first observed metallic XeF8 polyhedron. [...]


a, Transparent phase III at 3 GPa, typical for phases I, II, III and IV below 40 GPa. b, Yellowish phase IV at 47 GPa. c, Reddish phase IV at 53 GPa. d, Black phase V at 74 GPa. All images are under transmitted lights. Scale bars: 100 µm (a)…


a, A 2 × 3 × 1 supercell of phase IV in Pnnm–2 at 52 GPa. b, View along the c axis of phase IV, showing the lone-pair electrons of Xe and F roughly overlapping. c, Unit cell of the fluorite-like 3D extended phase V in Fmmm at 98 GPa. (See Su…


While the science is still fundamental, it’s still fun to consider what the applications would be:
  • new energetic material or fuel
  • an energy storage device
  • super oxidizing materials
  • high-temperature superconductors

Sources
Super-high pressures used to create super battery: 'Most condensed form of energy storage outside of nuclear energy'
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100704162218.htm
University Relations - WSU Researchers Use Super-high Pressures to Create Super Battery
http://www.wsunews.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=20580&TypeID=1
Two- and three-dimensional extended solids and metallization of compressed XeF2 : Nature Chemistry : Nature Publishing Group
http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nchem.724.html
Super battery is most powerful energy storage ever (besides nuclear power) - SmartPlanet
http://www.smartplanet.com/technology/blog/science-scope/super-battery-is-the-most-powerful-energy-storage-ever-besides-nuclear-power/2758/

Related
WSU Chemistry: Yoo, Choong-Shik
http://www.chem.wsu.edu/faculty-research/yooc
Choong-Shik Yoo Group: Novel Energetic Materials Research
http://yoo.chem.wsu.edu/researchprojects/novelmaterialresearch
New ultra-battery is the most powerful non-nuclear energy storage ever
http://gizmodo.com/5580592/new-ultra+battery-is-the-most-powerful-non+nuclear-energy-storage-ever
New ultra-battery is the most powerful non-nuclear energy storage ever
http://io9.com/5580592/new-ultra+battery-is-the-most-powerful-non+nuclear-energy-storage-ever?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+gizmodo/full+(Gizmodo)
Superpowered energy-storing wonder stuff created in lab • The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/05/wonder_energy_stuff/

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